Women

in the
CIVIL
WAR
Like Ms. Marsh
here, some
women headed
toward the
fighting instead
of away from it.
 January 2022

Discover American History

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8 ABOUT THE COVER
!
NEW Photographed in a uniform holding a flag, E.A.
2020
2020

Marsh was recognized by the Union army as a

“daughter of the regiment” during the Civil War
(1861–1865). Daughters of the regiment also weree
2020 Parents’ Choice Magazine
Gold Award Winner known as vivandières. They often were wives
or daughters of a soldier or an officer of the
2019 Parents’ Choice Magazine
Gold Award Winner military unit. They filled many jobs in support
of the soldiers—attending to the wounded and
2018 Parents’ Choice Magazine sick, providing food and beverages, procuring
Gold Award Winner
supplies, and generally attempting to keep up
2017 Parents’ Choice Magazine the men’s spirits.
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 F EATU R E S A C T I V I T I E S
4 Army of Volunteers 36 All About Women in the
by Judith E. Harper and Andrew Matthews Civil War Crossword Puzzle
by Will Bremen
8 Up to the Challenge
by Susan Youhn
DEPARTMENTS
14 Dangerous Work
by Judith E. Harper 2 Getting Started
24 Did You Know?
19 The First Ladies by Chris Ware
by Ruth Tenzer Feldman 38 In Other News
by Emily Cambias
22 Eyewitness to War 40 Going Global
by Cynthia Overbeck Bix by Bryan Langdo
42 Say What?
26 Finding the Words page
44 Freeze Frame
by Sara Bartlett and Elizabeth Howard 24 45 Your Letters
30 From Slavery to Freedom 46 Spotlight On . . .
by Ebenezer
by Judith Lee Hallock and Andrew Matthews
47 Dr. D’s Mystery Hero
32 They Fought, Too 49
by Dennis Denenberg
Just for Fun
by Wendy King and Elizabeth Howard

page
30

Women faced both

opportunities and
challenges during the
Civil War.

Can you imagine

becoming a
spy? Or a
soldier? Risking your
life for a cause page
is a pretty big 36
change from
being a wife and
It sounds kind a mother!
of exciting!
 Getting
T
he Civil War lasted four
long years—from 1861
to 1865. It resulted in the
deaths of an estimated 750,000 sol-
diers. The Union victory led to the
emancipation of 4 million enslaved
people. Battles and sieges destroyed
cities, homes, and the land. Many
histories of the war describe famous
men who fought in famous battles.
Women also participated, however.
And their determination to get
involved ended up breaking down
long-standing barriers.
Civil War Nineteenth-century laws and
women paved traditions demanded that ladies live
the way
for future
generations
of
professional
nurses.
2
under the protection of their fathers,
husbands, or other male relatives.
Women in the mid-1800s could not
vote or sign contracts. Husbands
usually controlled their wives’ prop-
erty, if they owned any, and their
wives’ wages, if they earned any.
Women had few opportunities
outside their roles as wives and
mothers. But those roles required
them to fill many unofficial jobs.
They raised children and over-
saw the running of homes. They
managed household budgets and
calculated food supplies. They
nursed sick family members. On
Started
isolated farms, women delivered
babies. They worked alongside
their husbands tending to farm
injuries and caring for livestock.
They planted vegetable gardens and
helped harvest crops.
Fighting in the war resulted in
the absence from home of many
men. Women stepped into that
void. They continued to do their
many unofficial jobs. But they also
filled in for their husbands and
fathers. They kept family businesses
running. They kept farms produc-
ing. They became the workforce in
mills that produced war goods.
Women also volunteered as I’m
nurses and spies. They served as convinced!
launderers and teachers. They Women
really can do
organized fundraisers to support
anything!
the troops. Some women joined
regiments and fought as soldiers.
Other women wrote about their
experiences.
The Civil War brought chal-
lenges to all women. Some women
eagerly seized the opportunity for
change. Other women reluctantly
found change thrust upon them.
Either way, the traditional roles
and responsibilities of women were
forever changed. ®
Many women put aside
traditional identities
as fashionable ladies to
volunteer to serve as
nurses during the Civil War.
3
 y of Volunte
rm ers
A
D
by Judith E. Harper and uring the early weeks of
Andrew Matthews the Civil War (1861–1865),
patriotism soared in both the
North and the South. Men rushed to
enlist in the Union and Confederate
armies. Women at home helped
their soldiers by volunteering in
their communities.
Women and girls flocked to their
churches, schools, and neighbors’
homes. They sewed shirts, uniforms,
and bedding for the soldiers. They
Sanitary means
relating to the knitted socks and packed food and
conditions that affect medical supplies to send to the army
hygiene and health.
camps. They went door to door ask-
Civilians are people
who are not members
ing businesses and their neighbors
of the armed forces to donate money for the soldiers’
or of fire or police aid. Thousands of ladies’ aid societ-
departments.
ies were formed during the war. Free
4
Women organized
and kept busy sewing
items for soldiers.
Black women also formed societies
to help Black soldiers once they were
permitted to fight.
A few women soon realized
that their volunteer efforts needed
organization. Two weeks after
fighting started, a group of women
met in New York. They formed the
Women’s Central Association of
Relief (WCAR) to address the prob-
lems of organizing and distributing
their supplies. That association led
to the founding of the U.S. Sanitary
Commission (USSC) a month later.
The USSC was a private, national
agency located in Washington, D.C.
It coordinated with the federal
government to oversee the efforts of
civilians to support the Union army.
The WCAR became an arm of the
USSC.
As the months passed, women
struggled to care for their families
and to make time for aid work. The
USSC urged women to continue
donating supplies and raising
money. It knew that the contribu-
tions of the local ladies’ aid societies
made an enormous difference in the
health of the troops.
Collecting and delivering dona-
tions was one of the most important
functions of the USSC. But women
at the commission also volunteered
to leave their homes to work under
harsh conditions. They served as
nurses and ran army food services.
They volunteered on hospital ships
set up close to scenes of battle.
They also worked with disabled and
returning soldiers, as well as sol-
diers’ families, to help them get the
aid they needed.
Women organized elaborate fairs,
concerts, plays, auctions, and balls to
raise funds. About halfway through
the war, localized fund-raising efforts
Women joined the U.S.
took on a greater role. Some fairs
Sanitary Commission
expanded to cover several days. They and organized fairs to
offered parades and exhibits. One of help raise money for the
the largest fund-raising fairs spanned soldiers.
5
 Men and women of the U.S. Christian Commission helped run the hospital at Gettysburg.
While her husband
was fighting in the
war, Alma Wolcott
Bennett joined
the U.S. Christian
Commission and
served as a nurse
in Tennessee.
A blockade is a
barrier used to
prevent people,
transportation
vehicles, or vessels
from entering or
leaving a place.
Abolitionists were
people who worked
to end slavery.
Contraband refers
to prohibited goods
or merchandise that
may be seized during
wartime. The Union
army considered
enslaved people
contraband during
the Civil War.
6
10 days in Chicago. ritory. It caused hardships for
It raised nearly families as crops were destroyed
$100,000 for the or went unplanted. In addition, a
war effort. Union blockade of Southern ports
The U.S. prevented goods from reaching
Christian Southern homes. Faced with short-
Commission ages and high prices, Southern
was another women found it difficult to provide
Northern food and clothing for their own
group. It families, let alone the soldiers. Still,
organized they gave whatever they could spare.
supplies on In the North, both Black and
the home white abolitionists were determined
front and to help enslaved people. As Union
sent agents army units approached, some people
into field seeking freedom fled to their camps.
hospitals and Enslaved people also were seized as
camps. It also contraband when the plantations
offered religious they worked on came under Union
booklets and personal control. The newly freed Black
inspiration to the soldiers. Its Americans needed food, clothing,
delegates shared a spiritual agenda and medical attention. They also
in their care of soldiers. needed help beginning lives as free
Southern women, meanwhile, people.
faced many challenges in provid- Abolitionists organized societies.
ing soldiers’ aid. The war was They raised money to send aid to
fought mostly in Southern ter- the freedpeople. They also traveled
to the war-torn South to deliver sup-
plies and to teach formerly enslaved
people how to read and write.
Abolitionists believed that an educa-
tion would enable Black Americans
to live as independent men and
women after the war.
Two-thirds of the Northern
teachers were women. Charlotte
Forten was an African American
teacher from Massachusetts. She
kept a diary of her experiences
as a teacher in South Carolina’s
Sea Islands. Forten wrote that she
feared she would not be strong or
brave enough for the task. Although
the Union army occupied the
islands, the region often was under
Confederate attack.
Forten also was concerned that
her own comfortable background
would make it difficult for formerly
enslaved people to relate to her and vice versa. She discovered that her Women teachers (standing
pupils enthusiastically engaged in on the steps of the school)
their learning even though there were sent by missionary
groups to educate these
were no books or supplies. “I never freedpeople in South
before saw children so eager to Carolina.
learn,” Forten wrote. “Coming to
school is a constant delight and rec-
reation to them.”
After the war, women did not
stop helping and volunteering.
They donated goods and money
to disabled veterans and to the
families of soldiers killed in the
war. Northern freedmen’s aid soci-
eties sent assistance in the form of
money and goods to help rebuild
the South. They also sent teachers,
nurses, and doctors to help newly
freed Black Americans begin their
new lives. 
African American abolitionist
Charlotte Forten traveled to South Judith E. Harper is a historian and journalist who spe-
Carolina’s Sea Islands to teach cializes in American history. She is the author of Women
formerly enslaved people. During the Civil War: An Encyclopedia.

7
 8SWRWKH
&KDOOHQJH

Wounded soldiers cover every inch of

this flat railroad car. Both sides in the
Civil War quickly became overwhelmed
by caring for their wounded men.

:
by Susan Youhn hen the Civil War
(1861–1865) began, only
men were allowed to
fill the role of nurses in the armies.
Most male nurses were simply sol-
diers who had been wounded and
could no longer fight. They were
directed to help the doctors, but they
knew little about sanitary issues.
When the war did not end
quickly, both the Union and the
Confederate armies became over-
whelmed. They were not prepared to
take care of so many ill, hungry, and
wounded soldiers. Compassionate
women found out about the awful
conditions. They pleaded with
military authorities to allow them

8
to help. As mothers, wives, sisters,
and daughters, they thought of their
loved ones lying wounded on a field
without any comfort.
Although most women did not
have professional training, genera-
tions of them had been taught how
to care for sick family members.
They also knew how to keep things
clean and tidy. The armies, however,
felt that military camps and battle-
fields were no places for women.
They did not think women were
strong enough to handle the hard-
ships of wartime care.
Luckily, a few strong-willed
women refused to take “no” for
an answer. As a result, more than
20,000 women served as nurses on
both sides during the Civil War—in
official and unofficial capacities.
Many women simply volunteered
to care for wounded soldiers when
battles took place near their homes.
Clara Barton was one of the most
famous women who refused to sit
by idly when she knew she could
help. She was living and working
in Washington, D.C., when the war
began. At first, she supplied soldiers
stationed in the capital with comfort
and food from her home. But she Clara Barton
quickly recognized that the soldiers was a one-
needed more. She put out a request woman
dynamo!
for people to send her provisions for
distribution to the men. People from
every Northern state responded.
Barton petitioned the Union
army for permission to bring her
supplies to medical staff and soldiers
Some medical facilities set
up to care for wounded
soldiers were hastily
converted buildings
located near a battlefield,
such as this location in
Fredericksburg, Virginia.
9
 Clara Barton (ABOVE) later
gave lectures (RIGHT) in
which she described how
she struggled with “a sense
of propriety” before she
volunteered.
on the battlefields. She vis-
ited her first battlefield in August
1862. She spent the rest of the war
For the duration of the
war, Dorothea Dix served delivering material and nursing the
without pay as the wounded in the field. At the Battle
superintendent of Union of Antietam (Maryland), Barton
army nurses. almost was shot. A bullet passed
10
through her sleeve and killed the
wounded man she was tending.
Confederate nurse Juliet Ann
Opie Hopkins was more severely
injured. While at a battlefield pre-
paring the wounded for transport to
a hospital, she was hit by a bullet in
the hip. She remained disabled for
the rest of her life. Hopkins served
as the superintendent of hospitals
for Alabama soldiers in Richmond,
Virginia. The Alabama legislature,
which was responsible for funding
the hospitals, named Hopkins’s
elderly husband superintendent
in December 1861. But Hopkins
became the one who carried out the
duties of superintendent. She was
known for her personal dedication
to the care of each soldier.
Like Barton, Dorothea Dix
took quick action. She offered
her services to the Union army in
April 1861. Officials appointed her
superintendent of army nurses. Dix
convinced the military that women
could nurse men effectively. She
recruited and trained more than
3,000 women to serve as Union
army nurses during the war. She
hired only women who were plain
looking and over the age of 30. She
also implemented a dress code of
plain black or brown skirts and no
hoops or jewelry.
Dix sometimes was stern and
focused on her work. Yet she
monitored the welfare of both
her patients and her nurses. She
obtained medical supplies from pri-
vate sources when she could not get
them from the government. She also
protected her staff, who sometimes
worked in difficult conditions.
Fifteen-year-old Tillie Pierce
became a nurse out of necessity.
The war descended on her town of
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in July
1863. Concerned for their daughter’s
safety, Tillie’s parents sent her to
stay with friends on a farm near a
hill called Little Round Top. By the
afternoon of the second day, Union
soldiers were fighting on that hill.
The home to which Tillie had gone
for safety was turned into a hospital.
Tillie spent hours handing out water
and bandages to wounded soldiers.
Wounded men affection-
ately referred to Mary Ann Ball
Bickerdyke as “Mother.” Bickerdyke
was appointed matron of several
Union hospitals. But many of
the doctors did not want to take
direction from a woman. When a
military officer asked her who gave
her the authority to question the
doctors, Bickerdyke replied, “I have
received my authority from the
Lord God Almighty; have you any- A matron was a
thing that ranks higher than that?” head nurse who
The commanding Union general, organized, managed,
and distributed
William T. Sherman, made it clear food, laundry, and
he was not going to interfere with medicine.
her work. He told the doctors who
complained about her, “Well, she
ranks me!”
Southern women had a harder
time being accepted as nurses. Many
people thought the idea of caring for
injured strangers was improper for
a lady. And the Confederate govern-
ment originally banned women
from hospitals. But by the fall of
1862, the Confederacy accepted
women to work in hospitals.
FAST FACT
Tillie
Tilli Pierce
Pi later
l t
Alabaman Kate Cumming vol-
published At
unteered against the wishes of her
Gettysburg, or What
family. She arrived on the outskirts a Girl Saw and Heard
of the battle at Shiloh, Tennessee, of the Battle: A True
while the conflict was still raging. Narrative in 1889.
She was struck by the smell of the
wounded men that “at first made
me giddy and sick, but I soon got
Mary Ann Ball
“Mother” Bickerdyke
made the care of
wounded soldiers her
first priority.
11
 over it.” Cumming later became
the supervisor of a hospital in
Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Confederate nurse Sally
Tompkins managed Robertson
Hospital in Richmond, Virginia.
Only 73 of 1,333 wounded
Confederate soldiers died. It was
a remarkable ratio of success.
Tompkins insisted on cleanliness,
good food, and a focus on the gen-
eral welfare of the men.
Some of the jobs the nurses were
asked to do were the most difficult
tasks of their lives. Phoebe Yates
Pember was in charge of a division
of Chimborazo Hospital, the largest
hospital in Richmond, Virginia.
One night, she discovered that a
bone had severed a soldier’s artery.
Pember immediately put her finger
A stained-glass window in St. James
over the hole to stop the bleeding. Church in Richmond, Virginia,
The doctor told her the soldier was remembers Confederate nurse Sally
beyond saving. When Pember told Tompkins’s efforts to save lives.
the young man the sad news, he told
her to let go. She held on until she hospitals, as well as in official
fainted, and the soldier died. military hospitals. The nuns served
Both sides readily accepted on transport ships that helped bring
Catholic nuns as nursing volunteers. the wounded to the hospitals. They
Those women devoted their lives also went to battlefields to locate
to doing good works for God. They dying soldiers and make them
worked in their convents-turned- comfortable.

Chimborazo Hospital in
Richmond, Virginia, was
one of the largest and
most efficient hospitals in
the South.

12
 After the war, several volunteer
nurses returned home to establish
schools. Georgeanna Woolsey
had been at Gettysburg and other
battlefields. She assisted in establish-
ing the (New Haven) Connecticut
Training School for Nurses. Woolsey
also wrote a nursing handbook
that was only the second of its
kind to be published in the United
States.
Determined women nurses dur-
ing the Civil War dealt with the
immediate issue of taking care of
the troops. They also paved the way
for the next generations of women
to be accepted as professionals in the
medical field. ®
Susan Youhn has been researching women and their
roles in the Civil War for years. She has published sev-
eral articles and has presented lectures on the subject.
She also is a Civil War reenactor.
Catholic nuns volunteered to go
wherever they could be of service
to provide care to both Union and
Confederate soldiers.
'(927(':,)(
by Elizabeth Howard
$ fter the Battle of First Bull Run (also known as
the Battle of First Manassas) in July 1861, Frances
Lawrence “Fanny” Ricketts received awful news. Her hus-
band, Union captain James B. Ricketts, was dead. But just
days later, a second telegram arrived. Her husband was
alive! He had been captured by Confederate soldiers and
was badly wounded, but he was alive.
From her home outside the nation’s capital, Fanny
immediately prepared to go to her husband’s side in north-
ern Virginia. Confederate soldiers, however, would not let
her pass into Confederate-held territory. Fanny refused to
be stopped. She sent a message to Confederate colonel
J.E.B. Stuart. Stuart was a family acquaintance from before
the Civil War. He arranged for Fanny to have safe passage
as she tried to locate her husband.
Fanny found James in a makeshift hospital. He had
been shot four times and was lying on a bloody stretcher.
She traveled with him as he was transferred to a hospital
and prison in Richmond, Virginia. For four months, Fanny
stayed by James’s
side, providing Union general James B. Ricketts and
him the personal his wife, Frances Lawrence “Fanny”
care that nursed Ricketts
him back to
health.
In early 1862,
James was
released in a pris-
oner exchange.
Six months later,
he rejoined the
Union army. He
was wounded sev-
eral other times,
but he survived
the war, thanks
to the devoted
care of his
wife-turned-nurse.

13
 Dangero by Judith E. Harper

W
omen and girls of all ages
worked as spies during the Civil
Espionage is the
practice of spying
War (1861–1865). Historians
to gain secret believe that more than 1,000 women in
information. the North and the South may have been
Hoop skirts were involved in espionage. Spying was dangerous
long, full skirts that
were supported by work. A male spy who was captured during
wire circles. the war risked being sent to prison or being
Petticoats were hanged. But even the threat of those punish-
women’s slips or
underskirts that
ments did not stop women from becoming
often were trimmed spies.
with lace. Most women became spies because
they desperately wanted to help their side
win. Female spies had several advantages
over male spies. Early in the war, nobody
expected women to engage in espionage.
So, soldiers allowed women and girls to
pass across Union and Confederate lines
without being searched. At first, female spies
benefited from the understanding that only
a woman’s husband and her doctor were
permitted to touch her. As soldiers learned
about women’s secret efforts, however, suspi-
cious individuals were stopped and searched.
Women’s clothing made it easy to hide
information. Hoop skirts and petticoats
were the height of fashion during the war.
The many yards of fabric in those clothes
were perfect for hiding messages and papers.
Small packages and medical supplies easily
were attached to the frames of the hoop
skirts. Such smuggling was especially
important to the Confederacy, as its army
had a shortage of medicine. Spies who could
not afford the expense of hoop skirts might
With 19th-century women expected to cover themselves
from head to toe, it is easy to see how their clothing carry items hidden in a basket or a bag.
came in handy as a way to hide messages. Women also hid messages under bonnets
and in their long, pinned-up hair.

14
ous Work
One of the most brilliant
female spies of the Civil War was
Elizabeth Van Lew. She
lived in Richmond, Virginia, but she
was pro-Union and hated slavery.
She was the leader of a group of
Union spies—both Black and white.
The espionage ring gathered valu-
able details about the Confederate
military, which proved crucial in
Union victories toward the end of
Elizabeth Van Lew
the war. The spies used an invisible
ink to write their messages between
the lines of “ordinary” letters.
Van Lew also created a cipher, or
code, to safeguard the facts in the
communications.
The group members smuggled
supplies into Richmond’s prisons,
which were overcrowded with Union
soldiers. They also helped some of
the soldiers escape. One of the most
15
 important spies in Van Lew’s group
was an African American woman.
She used a variety of names over
her lifetime, but she was known as
Mary Elizabeth Bowser
during the war.
Born enslaved to Van Lew’s fam-
FAST FACT ily, Bowser was freed a decade or so
Hi t i
Historians believe
b li that
th t
before the war. After getting an edu-
Mary Elizabeth Bowser’s
cation in the North and traveling to
real name was Mary
Jane Richards Denman. Africa, Bowser returned to Virginia
to work as a servant for the Van
Lews—and as a member of the spy
ring. Van Lew recommended Bowser
to work at the Confederate White
House in Richmond. The house
was the home of President Jefferson
Davis and his family. Bowser lis-
tened to Davis’s conversations with
government and military leaders.
The men did not know that Bowser
knew how to read and write. She
passed information she learned to
16 Maria “Belle” Boyd
another spy in the ring, who
relayed it to the appropriate
Union army members.
Maria “Belle”
Boyd was 18 years
old when Union troops
invaded her hometown in
western Virginia. Brave
and daring, she spied
on Union officers and
soldiers. She carried
information about their
activities to Confederate
generals. The highlight
of her career came in
May 1862. That’s when
Confederate general
Thomas J. “Stonewall”
Jackson was preparing
his soldiers to push
Union troops out of
western Virginia. Boyd raced on
horseback to Jackson’s headquarters
to deliver news about the location
and size of Union forces. That intel-
ligence enabled Jackson’s soldiers
to force the Northerners to retreat.
Boyd was arrested several times
before she finally was banished to
the South in December 1863.
Harriet Tubman is famous
for escaping from slavery and then
guiding other freedom seekers on
the Underground Railroad. During
the Civil War, she also worked as a
scout and a spy gathering informa-
tion for the Union army. In the
spring of 1863, Tubman was with
Union forces in South Carolina.
The Union navy controlled the
coast, while Confederate troops
held positions inland. Tubman
guided three Union gunboats
and 300 Union troops up South
Carolina’s Combahee River. She led
the way to several warehouses full
of Confederate rice and cotton. The
 tion to Confederate officers. The
Confederate forces won a decisive
victory.
Greenhow came under suspicion
and was put under house arrest
in August. A search of her house
revealed proof of her espionage. Yet
she continued to pass along infor-
mation with accomplices in her spy
network. The federal government
Secede means to
finally released her to live in the formally withdraw
South. She was warned not to leave from a group or an
organization.
the Confederacy, but she traveled
to Europe to raise support for the
Confederate cause. She drowned in
1864 as she was returning from her
Harriet Tubman European mission with a large sup-
ply of gold for the Confederacy.

Union soldiers seized those goods

and freed 750 enslaved people. The
freedpeople returned with Tubman
to the coast. Many of the men
became Union soldiers.
Rose O’Neal Greenhow
of Washington, D.C., believed that
the South had a constitutional
right to secede from the Union.
She vowed to help the Confederacy
achieve its goal. She lived four
blocks from the White House and
was prominent in Washington soci-
ety. She collected information about
the Union army from conversations.
She passed along what she learned to
Confederate leaders.
Greenhow’s most important
triumph occurred in July 1861,
before the Battle of First Bull Run
(also known as the Battle of First
Manassas). Greenhow persuaded a
Union military official to tell her the
strength of the troops preparing for
battle. She smuggled the informa- Rose O’Neal Greenhow

17
 Pauline Cushman
Harriet Wood changed her name
to Pauline Cushman when
she began a career in the theater.
During the war, she used her act-
ing skills to pretend to be a loyal
Confederate. But she actually was a
Union spy. She wore disguises and
roamed the countryside on horse-
back, collecting information about
the Confederate military. She also
uncovered the names and where-
abouts of Confederate spies. After
several months, Confederate soldiers
arrested Cushman and found
Confederate fortification plans on
her. She escaped but was captured
18
again and sentenced to be hanged.
Her execution was postponed
when she became sick. Before she
was recovered from her illness, the
Union army raided the town where
she was imprisoned and freed her.
Espionage, by definition,
requires a little mystery. Some
women used more than one name.
Official military records sometimes
were destroyed to keep identities
safe. Stories still may be uncovered,
but it may require some in-depth
detective work today to find firm
facts about the work of female spies
during the Civil War. ®
The First adies
ary Todd
Lincoln and
Varina Howell
Davis were two of the most
famous women during
the Civil War (1861–1865).
Lincoln was the first lady of
the North. Davis was the first
lady of the South. Those roles
put them constantly in the
public eye.
The two women shared
some similarities. Each
woman’s father had seen
to it that his daughter was
well educated. At that time,
daughters traditionally were
not provided with a formal
education. The intelligence
and strength of Mrs. Lincoln
and Mrs. Davis made them
capable partners in the
political world in which their
husbands lived. To a certain
extent, however, both women
struggled with the limits
of what were considered
“acceptable” roles for them
in the 1800s.
As the wives of the
presidents, Mrs. Lincoln
and Mrs. Davis both worked
to support their husbands’
political careers. They hosted
receptions and entertained
dignitaries. They visited
wounded soldiers. But the
public and the press were not
Varina Howell Davis always kind to them. Mary Todd Lincoln

19
 Lavish means rich or
elaborate.
Bearing means how
one conducts or
carries oneself.
Typhoid is a highly
infectious disease
transmitted by
contaminated food
or water.
A Lincoln family photo
captures Mary and Abraham
seated with Robert (standing,
background) and Tad (next
to his father). A portrait of
Willie hangs on the wall.
20
At her husband’s first inaugura-
tion, Mrs. Lincoln wanted to present
herself as an elegant first lady. On
her way from her home state of
Illinois to Washington, D.C., she
stopped in New York City to buy
fashionable clothes for the March
4 event. News reports of her lavish
spending arrived in the nation’s cap-
ital before she did. People resented
her for that. Then, a few years later
when she hoped to mourn privately
over the death of her son, Willie, the
public faulted her for not filling her
duties as first lady.
Mrs. Davis was more successful
than Mrs. Lincoln at cultivating a
positive public image. Before the
war began, she had spent 14 years in
Washington, D.C. Her husband had
served as U.S. secretary of War and
then as a senator from Mississippi.
She knew people in high places. But
she, too, had critics in the press. Her
regal bearing earned her the nick-
name “Queen Varina.” It was not
always meant as a compliment. And
although she was comfortable host-
ing Confederate leaders and officers,
some Southerners suspected that her
heart was not in the cause.
The two first ladies shared a
devotion to their families. Much of
their energies were focused on their
children. At the start of the war
in 1861, the Davises had Margaret
(“Maggie,” 6), Jefferson (3), and
Joseph (2). Davis had two more
children during the war—William
(“Billy,” born in December 1861) and
Varina Anne (“Winnie,” born in June
1864). The Lincolns had Robert (17),
William (“Willie,” 10), and Thomas
(“Tad,” nearly 8). Both families had
already lost a child—Samuel Davis
(1852–1854) and Edward Lincoln
(1846–1850). And tragedy struck the
two families again during the war.
Typhoid killed Willie Lincoln in
February 1862. Joseph Davis fell from
a porch to his death in April 1864.
The first ladies felt the hard-
ships of war. Their husbands were
burdened with being leaders during
a bloody conflict. Mrs. Davis often
endured difficult conditions. The
Davises lived under the threat of
Union troops trying to take over the
Confederate capital in Richmond,
Virginia. Supplies did not always
reach Southern cities. Washington,
D.C., was better supplied but not
always secure. In 1863, Mrs. Lincoln
sustained a severe head injury in a
carriage accident that might have
been caused by someone tampering
with the carriage wheel. And in July
1864, Confederate forces got close
enough to shoot at her husband
while he was checking on the capi-
tal’s defenses.
Shortly after President Abraham
Lincoln’s second inaugural on
March 4, 1865, General Robert
E. Lee informed the Davises that
Richmond would fall to the Union
army. Mrs. Davis fled to Georgia
with her children, hoping her
husband could join her there. On
April 14, Mrs. Lincoln’s husband
was assassinated. On May 10, Mrs.
Davis’s husband was captured by
Union forces and imprisoned at Fort
Monroe in Virginia. Mrs. Davis
spent two years pleading for her
husband’s release. Davis’s role in
the Confederate government was This 1880s photograph of
treasonous, which made Mrs. Davis three generations of Davises
fear for the safety of her children. includes Varina Howell Davis
(seated, right), Jefferson
She sent them to live in Canada. Davis (seated, middle),
The loss of her husband was an and the eldest Davis child,
enormous blow for Mrs. Lincoln. Margaret (seated, left). The
Even before the war, she had suf- three children are Margaret’s
fered from anxiety and terrible children. An unidentified
migraines accompanied by nausea. servant is in the background.
She most likely suffered from
depression, which plagued her until
her death in 1882. She outlived all
her children except Robert. Her
youngest son, Tad, died in 1871.
Mrs. Davis showed an inner
strength that sustained her for the
rest of her life. In the years before
her death in 1906, she wrote news-
paper articles for the The New York Treasonous describes
World. Like her first lady counter- actions that are a
violation of allegiance
part, Mrs. Davis outlived everyone toward one’s country,
in her family except her eldest especially waging war
daughter, Margaret.  against it.
Migraines are severe,
Ruth Tenzer Feldman is a long-time contributor to recurring headaches.
COBBLESTONE.
21
 Ey ewi tn es s to Wa r
x
by Cynthia Overbeck Bi

ol d C ar ri e Be rr y w ro te in her diar y, “How I

r-
n August 11, 1864, 10-yea could get out and get so
me

O w ish the federa ls would

fresh air.” But it wasn’t sa
lived, was under siege. U
ni on m
qu

aj
ith his arm
it

or
sh
fe to be
ge
y.
el

ne
C
lin
ou
ra
on
g

l
ts

fe
W
us
id

de
ill
so
e.

ra
A
w e
tla nt a, G eo rgia, where Carrie
iam T. Sherman was dete
te tr oo ps
r-
were determined to
mined to enter the city w . So , C ar ri e w as st uck inside a 10-foot-dee
p
was cons ta nt
stop them. Cannon fire w as cr ow de d, hot, and stuf fy in the ce
llar.
back ya rd . It
dirt cellar in her family’s , a sh el l fe ll into the garden. It mad
ea
n A ug us t 15
It also was terrify ing. O ns . W or se ha pp en ed the next day to
rt in all dire ct io
huge hole and sprayed di re w as a la rg e pi ec e came through Mama’s
ported, “T he
their house. As Carrie re d fe ll on th e lit tle bed and I expect if w
e
ent to be d an
room direct ly af ter we w ould have ben hurt.”
in g ther e so m e of us w
had been sleep

Union army
officers watch
as their troops
lay siege to the
city of Atlanta.

22
 to
ea nt ev er yd ay life st op ped. Carrie couldn’t go
m
The dangerous situation ch . C ar ri e sp en t gl oo m y hours sitting in
’t attend chur
school. The family couldn sa fe to be in th ei r ho us e, Carrie helped her
ngs. If it was
the cellar, knitting stocki as a dr ea ry tim e: “I get so tired of being
iron. But it w
mother cook, clean, and t w or se an d w or se ever y day. O that som
e-
The sh el ls ge
housed up all the time.
thing would stop them.” nt a le ar ne d th at th e U nion army would be
le of Atla
On September 1, the peop ci ty . Pe op le w at ch ed from their w indows
to ta ke over th e
mov ing in the next day
rough the
as Union troops came th
ok ing at the
streets. “We have ben lo
arrie. “They
soldiers all day,” w rote C
sand.”
have come in by the thou
d,” Carrie
“Every one I see seems sa
e mak ing
continued. Residents wer
citizens all
plans to evacuate. “The
cruel thing
think that it is the most
e. . . . Papa
to drive us from our hom
on earth
says he don’t know where
to go.”
also were
Atlanta’s enslaved people
that time.
thrown into panic during
my let
Would the Confederate ar
nion army
them leave? Would the U
ved people
protect them? Many ensla
diary, Carrie
fled from the city. In her
Black servant
wrote about the family’s
evening and The constant
girl. “Mary went off this y m or e. . . . I w ill ha ve to go to work to
t ex pe ct that she w ill come back an bombing by the
I do n’
to st ay. Union army left
help Mama.” ily w as al low ed
fa ther foun d w or k in the city, so the Berr y fam e la st
Atlanta in ruins
Carri e’s Once th and gave Carrie
en ts re m ai ne d ou t of a population of 20,000. s
About 3,000 resid st uc k in A tla nta. After Carrie’s parent Berry a lot to
e Be rr ys w er e
train of evacuees left, th po rt ed , “[ T] he y sa y th at they never saw a write about.
the city, she re
went for a walk around th e ho us es are torn dow n.”
nt a is . H al f of
place torn up like Atla y pr ep ar ed to le av e Atlanta. Union soldiers
nion ar m
By mid-November, the U n N ov em be r 16 , C ar ri e w rote, “Oh what
ound the city. O
burned private homes ar ho le to w n w as on fir e. . . . If we had not
ed like the w
a night we had. . . . it look
ou r ho us e w ou ld have ben burnt up.”
set up [a ll nigh t]
e citiz en s of A tla nt a tr ied to resume some nor-
ft, th
After the Union army le ab ou t go in g back to school, visiting w
ith
full of en tr ie s
malcy. Carrie’s journa l is lping to clean up the city ®
.
ily an d fr ie nd s, an d he
returning fam many books and
American histor y. She has written
loves lea rni ng abo ut the people who shaped
Cynthia Overbeck Bix ce and the arts.
s abo ut his tor y, as we ll as about natural scien
article

23
 ou
K no w Elizabeth Keckley (1818–1907)

? published her autobiography,

Behind the Scenes, or Thirty Years
a Slave and Four Years in the
White House, in 1868. It detailed
her life as an enslaved person, her
emancipation, and her career as
an in-demand dressmaker in the
years before and during the Civil
War. It also described her role as
confidant to First Lady Mary Todd
Lincoln. But Mrs. Lincoln viewed
the book as a betrayal of their
relationship. Washington, D.C., society
similarly turned on Keckley, and her
successful business as a dressmaker
dried up. She later was hired as head
of Ohio’s Wilberforce University’s
department of sewing and domestic
sciences.

Before her success as an author,

Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888)
worked as an army nurse tending
to Union soldiers during the Civil
War. Her best-selling book, Little
Women, was published in 1868 and
has never been out of print. The
story about the poor-but-loving
March family is set during the war
and is based on her own family. It
has been made into a big-screen
movie six times (1917, 1918, 1933,
1949, 1994 and 2019). Not bad for
something Alcott once described
as “rubbish” that she “scribbled” to
help support her family.
24
 Dr. Mary Edwards Walker (1832–
1919) was the only woman in her
medical school class when she
graduated in 1855. Unable to
enlist during the Civil War, she
volunteered instead. Widespread
mistrust of a woman doctor
relegated her to duty as a nurse.
Eventually, the Union army permitted
her to serve as a surgeon near the
front lines. After the war, she was
recognized for her medical work.
She is the only woman ever awarded
the Medal of Honor. She famously
wore pants—they were more
comfortable and practical than a
19th-century dress. She also became
an advocate for women’s suffrage.

Anna Elizabeth Dickinson (1842–

1932) was an exceptional orator
during the Civil War. She spoke
on a number of topics, including
women’s rights and the abolition
of slavery. She traveled the
country averaging a lecture
every other day. At her most
successful, she earned as much
as $20,000 a year—that’s a little
more than $400,000 today. In
1864, she was the first woman
to give a political address to the
U.S. Congress. She also was one
of the U.S. Mint’s first female
employees. She set records as a
mountain climber, too!
25
 ing
the

by Sara Bartlett and w was on the border with the slave state
Elizabeth Howard m of Kentucky. Although it was not
al Stowe’s intention, the book was seen
er as an abolitionist work. It energized
iv r antislavery Northerners while enrag-
ing proslavery Southerners in the
r decade before the war.
ca e Stowe’s characters portray how
wa l awful slavery is for a society. She
Tom’s Cabin (1852) tells the story of describes a conversation between
the brutal treatment of enslaved peo- Southern slaveholder Augustine St.
ple on Southern plantations. Stowe Clare and his cousin visiting from
had seen the effects of slavery while Vermont, Miss Ophelia. St. Clare
living in Cincinnati, Ohio. That city claims to “despise” slavery. He says,

26

“I don’t think my
feelings about slavery
are peculiar. I find
many men who, in
their hearts, think of it
just as I do. The land
groans under it. . . .
It takes no spectacles
[glasses] to see that a
great class of vicious,
improvident, degraded
people, among us, are
an evil to us, as well
as to themselves.”
her father, who was an influential
Maryland politician. Early in the
war, Carroll wrote several powerful
pamphlets supporting President
Abraham Lincoln’s policies. She
advocated for her home state of
Maryland to remain in the Union.
She also reported about the war in
the Western Theater.
Deaf since the age of 11, Laura
Redden became a published author
and respected newspaper reporter. She
wrote articles for some of the major
publications of the 19th century:
Harper’s Magazine, The New York
Times, and the New-York Tribune.

In Alabama in 1855, Augusta Jane

Evans published a novel at the age
of 15. A second novel, Beulah (1859),
made her so popular that a sol-
diers’ hospital was named after the
book. She was a strong supporter
of the Confederacy. Evans’s next
novels were so persuasive that many
Northern readers labeled them as
Improvident means
propaganda. Macaria (1864) is the
thoughtless or
story of two women who dedicate thriftless.
themselves to Confederate work Propaganda is the
during the war. Evans sought to spread of information
reflecting only the
influence readers toward the belief viewpoints of those
that the Southern cause was the only who advocate a
Harriet Beecher Stowe certain cause.
right one.
Anna Ella Carroll of Maryland
was another woman who made a
career as a professional writer—
first for railroad promoters and
later in the political field. Carroll
was educated and encouraged by

27
 While working as a reporter in
Missouri, she began to use Howard
Glyndon as a pen name. When the
Civil War started, she was sent to
Washington, D.C., by the St. Louis
Republican to report on the conflict.
She also wrote one of the first books
of poetry about the Civil War, Idyls
of Battle and Poems of the Rebellion
(1864).
In one poem, “Watch-Night,”
Redden captured how women dealt
with losing loved ones:
Did I frighten you, mother,—so white and cold,
And so silently here at your bed?
I could not sleep on this terrible night,
For the battle of which we read.
To think of the dead lying out in this rain,
Not minding its dreary fall,—
Of that mad, mad fight on the side of the hill;
And he—he was in it all!
Music was vitally important
during the Civil War. Redden was
asked to rewrite the song “Maryland,
My Maryland” into a pro-Union
Missouri soldiers’ song. Redden com-
posed “Belle Missouri.”
Similarly, Julia Ward Howe wrote
“Battle Hymn of the Republic” after
FAST FACT she heard an earlier song called “John
I 1872,
In 1872 the
th town
t off Brown’s Body.” The verses came to
Glyndon, Minnesota, Howe quickly. She was inspired to
was named in Laura write new words to the tune after
Redden’s honor. visiting Union troops in northern
Virginia. It became one of America’s
most treasured songs. Howe earned
fame for her poetry and plays, too,
which often focused on women’s
place in society at the time.
28
Women also wrote in less public
ways—by keeping diaries and jour-
nals. At first, these private memoirs
simply served as descriptions of
daily activities. As the Civil War
dragged on, however, such personal
written accounts from a woman’s
point of view became important
historical records.
Mary Boykin Chesnut of South
Carolina was a famous diarist of the
Civil War. She was the wife of lawyer
and politician James Chesnut Jr. He
was an aide to Confederate president
Jefferson Davis. James’s position in
the Confederate government meant
Mary socialized with many famous
Confederates and witnessed a lot of
events. Her diary offers an important
look at the activities of upper-class,
Southern life. On February 26, 1864,
she wrote,
“We paid our
respects to [the wife
of Confederate
general]
Mrs. [Robert E.] Lee.
Her room was like
an industrial school:
every body so busy.
Her daughters were
all there plying their
needles, with several
other ladies. . . . When
we came out someone
said, ‘Did you see how
the Lees spend their
time? What a rebuke to
the taffy parties!’ ”

Mary Boykin Chesnut
Another entry on March 11, 1864,
included a quote from a letter
written by Chesnut’s 90-year-old
father-in-law:
“ ‘Bad times; worse
coming. Starvation
stares me in the face.
Neither John’s nor
James’s overseer will
sell me any corn.’ . . .
Poor old man, he has
fallen on evil days,
after a long life of ease
and prosperity.”
Sixteen-year-old Alice
Williamson kept a diary about the
Union occupation of her hometown
of Gallatin, Tennessee. She filled 36
pages with descriptions of the brutal
treatment of Union general Eleazer
A. Paine. She made numerous refer-
ences to Paine’s cruel executions
without a trial of suspected rebel
spies.
Emma Balfour was the wife of a
Vicksburg, Mississippi, doctor. She
kept a diary about her experiences
when the city was under siege for
weeks in 1863:
“All day and all night the shells from the
mortars are falling all around us. . . . No rest
for our poor soldiers who have to stay down
in the trenches all day in the hot sun. It is a
most discouraging sort of warfare.”
Other Vicksburg diarists noted
the lack of food—and the resorting
to eating mule and rats.
Through their writing, women
of all ages and on both sides of the
conflict left future generations a peek
into the public and private lives of
Americans during the Civil War. ®
Sara Bartlett is an actress and musician. She writes
screenplays about Civil War women and is a contributor
to other historical publications.
29
 FREEDOM by Judith Lee Hallock and Andrew Matthews

P
The Civil War resulted resident Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into
in a dramatic change for effect on January 1, 1863. On that day, he declared, all enslaved
African American women, people who were held in Confederate states still in rebellion were free.
who went from being
Formerly enslaved men had the opportunity to actively fight for their free-
enslaved to being free.
dom when the Union army decided to form Black regiments. But millions of
enslaved people in the South had to wait until the Confederacy was defeated
before they could really begin lives as free people. In fact, enslaved people in
Texas did not learn of their freedom until Union troops reached that distant
state and shared the news in June 1865—two months after the Confederacy
surrendered.

30
 Meanwhile, Southern laws forbade enslaved people to be Reminiscences are
educated. That meant most enslaved people could not document recollections of
past experiences or
their personal Civil War experiences. But some enslaved people events.
did learn to read and write. Susie Baker King Taylor was one of
those people. She captured her unique perspective of the war in a
memoir. Reminiscences of My Life in Camp: With the 33rd United
States Colored Troops, Late 1st South Carolina Volunteers was pub-
lished in 1902.
Born into slavery on August 6, 1848, Susie lived on a plantation
near Savannah, Georgia. When she was seven, she was sent to live Susie Baker King Taylor
with her grandmother in the city. That move changed her life. served as a nurse and
Although it was against the law at that time for enslaved people to also taught children
and adults to read while
learn how to read or write, Susie secretly attended a school run by
serving with the 33rd U.S.
a free Black woman. Colored Troops Infantry
Susie’s life changed dramatically again in April 1862, when Regiment.
she was 13 years old. The Union navy took control of
the Sea Islands along the coast of South Carolina
and Georgia. Her uncle fled to the protection of
the Union fleet, taking his seven children and
Susie with him. Within a short time, Susie
was teaching 40 children and several adults,
“all of them so eager to learn to read,” she
recalled.
At the end of 1862, newly freed
men began enlisting in the 1st South
Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment,
later renamed the 33rd U.S. Colored
Troops. Several of Susie’s relatives also enlisted,
including her husband-to-be, Edward King. Susie
became an army launderer and traveled with the
troops. She continued to teach soldiers. She also
added nursing to her other army duties.
After the war, Susie continued in her role educat-
ing freedpeople in the South. She opened her own
school for children in Savannah, Georgia. But shortly
after Edward died in September 1866, Susie decided to
close the school. She moved to Boston, Massachusetts, in
the 1870s, where she met and married Russell L. Taylor. In
1886, she became active in the Women’s Relief Corps, which
aided veterans. She eventually became president of the corps in
1893. She was the only Black woman to publish a book about her
wartime experiences. She died in 1912. ®
Judith Lee Hallock taught elementary school for 33 years and has done research for a series of books on Civil War
battles.

31
 Kady Brownell followed
her husband to war and
served with his Rhode
Island regiment as a
vivandière.

32
 THEY
FOUGHT,
TOO by Wendy King and Elizabeth Howard

ome women and girls were willing to experience the horrors of

S the Civil War (1861–1865) alongside their loved ones. Known

as vivandières, they were officially attached to military units.
A vivandière usually was the daughter or young wife of a lower
officer or a soldier in the unit. In their roles as sutlers or canteen
keepers, they provided support to the men in their unit. Although
they did not fight in battles, they often wore a uniform and car-
ried a weapon.
Vivandières also served as field nurses during a battle. They
combed a battlefield looking for injured soldiers to provide life-
saving care—all while a battle raged around them. By 1864, the
official role of vivandières in the Union army ended: Lieutenant
General Ulysses S. Grant ordered that all women be restricted
from traveling with the army.
Vivandières were not supposed to engage in battles. But as
many as 700 women did fight during the Civil War. Disguised as
men, they risked a lot to fight for their cause. In many cases, no Sutlers are civilian
records of their names remain. For example, a young Confederate merchants who sell
provisions to an army
soldier was discovered to be a woman only after the Battle of in the field.
Gettysburg was over. A burial detail found the dead soldier A canteen is a water
believed to be lying next to her father. However, the names and container or a place
that sells on-the-go
stories of some female soldiers are known. Here are a few of those food and drink.
courageous women.

33

For the
Union
Albert Cashier’s given name was
Jennie Hodgers. But after he joined
the Union army, he lived the rest
of his life as a man. He joined the
95th Illinois Infantry when he
was 18. He was captured once
but escaped by grabbing a gun
from a guard and knocking him
down. He fought in many battles
and remained in the army
for his full three-year
enlistment. In 1911, a car
accident left him with
a broken leg. His gender
assigned at birth was dis-
covered, but the medical
staff agreed to keep his
secret. When Cashier
died in 1915, he was
buried in uniform with
military honors.
Sarah Emma
Edmonds Seelye was
born in Canada in
December 1841. She
left her parent’s home
to avoid an arranged
marriage. She disguised herself
as a man and became a Bible
salesman. She began to use the
name Franklin Thompson. In
1860, she moved to Michigan
and later enlisted in the 2nd
Michigan Infantry. She served as
a field nurse, then as
A color guard is the
ceremonial escort
a spy, and even as an
for a country’s or an aide to a general. At
organization’s flag.
34
the Battle of Antietam, she buried
another female soldier.
Sarah Rosetta Wakeman
adopted the name Lyons Wakeman.
She enlisted as a private in the 153rd
New York Volunteers when she was
19. She explained to her parents in a
letter that she joined the war to help
the Union cause and to find adven-
ture. Wakeman survived nearly
two years in the Union army. She
endured long marches, camping in
all weather, and fighting in almost
tropical heat. But illness associated
with unsanitary water that claimed
the lives of so many of soldiers also
claimed her life in 1864. Her true
identity was discovered a cen-
tury later.
African American Maria
Lewis decided to seek
freedom from slavery by
disguising herself as
a man and joining
the Union army.
Using the name
George Harris,
she enlisted as
a trooper with
the 8th New York
Cavalry. She found that she
enjoyed life as a “white man.” So
instead of continuing northward
to freedom, she remained with her
cavalry unit. For the last 18 months
of the war, she fought with distinc-
tion in the Shenandoah Valley.
Lewis was a member of a color
guard who presented 17 captured
Confederate flags to the U.S. War
Department in 1865.

For the
Confederacy
Loreta Janeta Velazquez
considered Joan of Arc her
hero. Using the name Harryy
T. Buford, she joined the
Confederate army to be nea
her husband. He died early
in the conflict, but Velazqueez
found military life to be
exciting. Her career ranged
from being an officer of
a volunteer regiment to
taking part in battles and
serving as a spy. She used
many false names with her
disguises and even wore a
fake mustache and beard.
When the war was over,
she wrote a book that con-
tained stories of her many
adventures.
When Sarah Jane
Perkins was 21 years
old, she joined the
troops of the 12th
Virginia Artillery.
Although she was found
out to be a woman, Perkins
was allowed to stay in the
Confederate army. When
she was captured, she
claimed she could “straddlee
a horse, jump a fence and
kill a Yankee as well as any
rebel.” She remained under
arrest until she was exchangged
for another prisoner toward d the
end of the war.
Mary Jane Green dressed
sometimes in men’s clothes and
sometimes in women’s clothes.
She carried mail across the battle
lines and acted as spy, scout, and
guerrilla fighter for
the Confederate A guerrilla fighter
is a member of a
cause. Green often military group that
cut telegraph lines operates by harassing
so the Union army
and undermining the
enemy, usually with
could not com- surprise attacks.
municate. When
she was captured, she fought the
soldiers guarding her by scratching
and kicking them. Green was taken
to prison, where she attacked an
officer’s chest with a brick while
he was interviewing her.
Women chose to fight in
the Civil War for a number of
reasons. Patriotism, remaining
close to a loved one, a chance
for adventure, and a steady
wage were some of them. And
posing as a man was not a dif-
ficult secret to keep. Women
cut their hair and learned
how to talk and to walk like
a man. Soldiers slept in their
clothes and didn’t bathe fre-
quently. They also wore baggy,
ill-fitting uniforms, making it
easier for women trying to hide
their true identities.
As Sarah Emma Edmonds Seelye
said, “I could only thank God that I
was free and could go forward and
work, and I was not obliged to stay
at home and weep.” ®
Wendy King is an independent scholar and the author
of Clad in Uniform: Women Soldiers of the Civil War.
35
 All About
Women Crossword
in thePuzzle
Civil War by Will Bremen
an you solve this puzzle about the different women in this
C issue who had a role in the Civil War? All the answers can
be found in this issue. We are looking for last names only! The
solution is on page 49.

ACROSS 4. Mary Boykin _____’s life as a South

1. Harriet Beecher _____’s popular Carolina politician’s wife meant
novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin described her diary provided an insider’s look
the horrors of slavery. at life among Confederate leaders
3. Tillie _____ was only 15 years old during the war.
when she volunteered as a nurse at 6. Actress-turned-Union-spy Pauline
the Battle of Gettysburg. _____ was rescued before being
5. Dorothea _____ was made executed by Confederate troops.
superintendent of Union army nurses
in 1861.
7. African American Charlotte _____
traveled to South Carolina’s Sea
Islands to teach formerly enslaved
people to read and write.
8. Sally _____ had a high rate of
success in her management of
Robertson Hospital in Richmond,
Virginia.
10. Clara _____ personally delivered
the medical supplies she gathered
to battlegrounds, where she also
volunteered as a nurse.
13. Ten-year-old Carrie _____ kept a
journal of her experiences living in
Atlanta while the city was under
siege by the Union army.

DOWN
2. Alice _____ kept a journal about the
Union occupation of her hometown
of Gallatin, Tennessee.

36

3 4
10 11
13
9. Susie Baker King _____ taught
freedpeople and became a launder
and nurse for the Union army.
11. Harriet _____ escaped from slaver
and became a nurse, a scout, and
for the Union army during the wa
1 2
12
12. Southern spy Maria “Belle” _____
shared information about the Union
army with Confederate general
Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson.
37
 er
n e w s

by

M
edicine had a sudden growth spurt during the Civil
War. So many soldiers were sick and injured that
doctors and nurses improvised and improved their
methods to save more people.

e.
s k a long tim
C o r p tle f ield s to o
Esprit dE r, getting soldiers off the bat Army ambulance wagons
of the wa ttle itself. m
At t h e s t ar t
o f te n fa r f r o m t h e b a
t h e d rive r s had no syste
ls wer e t
Field hospita e d t o f ie ld hospitals, bu
the wound
transported
ion.
or organizat
iers
Injured sold
ere
sometimes w
ded to
left unatten
re they
for days befo
ctor.
reached a do
m m er
But in the su
Jonathan
of 1862, Dr.
evised
Letterman d
anized
the first org
Corps
Ambulance
y of the
for the Arm
e corps
Potomac. Th
d o p t e d a s trict sys-
a
ldiers
tem. First, so
o a field h e n th e
were taken t d b le e d in g. T
s sin g t e n t , where io u s in ju r ie s and stoppe ch a s amputa-
dre ea t e d s e r u r e s s u
y s icia n s a nd nurses tr h o s p it a l, w here proced s t ra nsported
p h e f ie ld b u la n ce
e taken to th Finally, the a
m
reatment.
patients wer e re p e r fo r m e d .
lo n g-t e r m t
infection w or city to ge
t
tions and dis n e a r b y t o w n
tie n t s to a hospital in a
pa

38
 Sawbones ous injuries on the
b at tle fie ld . S o m e times, a limb had
t
Sold ie rs e n d u re d se ri
die . G e rm s an d bacteria had not ye
b e am p u ta te d o r the soldier would d y p ar t w as th e only way Civil
to bo
co ve re d — cu tt in g off the damaged
been dis
to prevent
War doctors knew
gangrene
infections such as
tions were
or sepsis. Amputa
tlefield
fast and nasty. Bat
y patients
physicians had man
tions, so
waiting for amputa
s knew
the “best” surgeon
limb in
how to remove a
ss. A sharp
three minutes or le
Soldiers
saw worked best.
called Civil War su
rgeons
m an y am p u ta tions. After the sur-
so
aw b o n e s” b e ca u se they performed s w it h silk o r co tton threads.
“s rie
e su rge o n ti e d o ff the patient’s arte s th e p atient was led to
gery, th p at ie n t. A
u ickl y pla st e re d and bandaged the
Aides q .
, th e n ex t in ju re d soldier was led in
a bed to rest Gangrene is dead
tissue due to lack of
blood flow or serious
infection.
Sepsis is a body’s
response to a serious
infection that can result
in tissue damage, organ
failure, and death.
Prosthetics are artificial
limbs.

Perfecting Parts
Those all-too-co
mmon amputatio
erans needed be ns also meant ma
tter prosthetics. ny vet-
limbs were made B e fo re th e war, prosthetic
by woodworkers
were designed fo or blacksmiths. T
r their looks rath hey often
But Civil War vete e r than for practical
rans wanted more use.
functional limbs. comfortable and
In the 15 years be more
thetic patents we fo re th e war, only 15 pro
re filed. But from s-
War to 1873, vete the beginning of
rans and doctors the Civil
One of the vetera filed 133 differen
ns was a Confede t patents.
E . Hanger, whose ra te soldier named Ja
leg had been amp mes
tered early in the utated after it wa
war. The “Hanger s shat-
bending naturally limb ” was double
at the knee and at -jointed,
soft rubber bump the ankle. The fo
ers at the heel to ot had
After the war, Ha help make walkin
nger started a co g easier.
became one of th m p a n y to sell his limbs.
e world’s top pro It
sthetics creators
.

39
 ING
oB A L
GL
Determined to Fight
do
ng
La
ryan

M
by B eet three women who defied
tradition to help fight for
what they believed in.

A Female Samurai
Nakano Takeko came from a powerful
samurai family. She trained in martial arts
and was an expert with the naginata, a pole
weapon with a blade. During the Boshin
War, in 1868, Japan’s traditional shoguns, or
military leaders, fought against Japan’s new
ruler, Emperor Meiji. When the Imperial
army attacked the shogun region of Aizu,
Nakano prepared for battle. Because she
was a woman, the commanders told her
she couldn’t fight. When she threatened
to take her own life, they changed their
minds. She led an all-female army that
included her mother and her sister. She
fought bravely, but ultimately the shoguns
were defeated. She was killed by a rifle
shot. She was just 21 years old.

40
Michal Smok?
When Anna Henryka Pustowójtówna was
born, her home country, Poland, was part
of Russia. Pustowójtówna’s father was a
Russian officer, but she was passionate
about Polish independence. In 1861, she was
arrested and sentenced to prison for singing
patriotic songs in public. She escaped right
away. Disguising herself as a man named
Michal Smok, she joined a small Polish army
unit that was prepared to fight for Polish
independence. The revolution, called the
January Insurrection, was unsuccessful.
Pustowójtówna was arrested again. After
her release, she lived in exile. She later
served as a nurse during other wars.

An Apron Full of Bullets

In the 1850s, Central American armies united to defend them-
selves against an American, William Walker. Walker had taken
over Nicaragua with a small private army and had declared
himself president. He planned to establish new slave colo-
nies in the region to ally with the slaveholding southern
United States. When Costa Rican troops gathered
to resist Walker, Francisca Carrasco Jiménez joined
them. At first, she worked as a cook and a nurse.
But it upset her to see her fellow citizens getting
wounded or killed. She grabbed a rifle, stuffed
her apron pockets with bullets, and joined
the fight. After the Costa Ricans defeated
Walker’s army, Walker surrendered to the
U.S. Navy in 1857. His continued schem-
ing led to his capture and execution
several years later. Jiménez became
a national hero as the first woman
to fight in Costa Rica’s military.

41
 nd sayin
y?
WHaT

rds a
o fo u g h t in the Civil
h
d s o f t h e soldiers w s e derives fro
m
o t h ir . D is e a
About tw d ie d f rom diseas
e
,” and aise,
6 1 – 1 8 6 5 ) n in g “ d is
p or War (18 w o r d s: des, mea e a d d iseases
n c h e s p r
ing the or two Old Fr
e
h e m ost w
id
in g “ e a s e .” O n e o f t
to “ t h e e x cessive and
mean ia rrhea refe
rs
f ten is cause
d
r h e a . D c e s .” It o
was diar tio n o f watery fe iv es from th
e
t e v a c u a rr h e a d e r
frequen a l d istress. Dia low or run
t r o in t e s t in e a n s “ to f
by gas r rh oia, which
m
d is ease was
rd d ia a r - e r a
Greek wo e r c o m mon Civil
W
o r y disorder
A n o t h m m a t
through.” d e f in e d as “an in
fla
e v e re diarrhea,
. It is in s
dysentery s tin a l t ra c t resulting d u senteria,
e r in t e G r e e k
of the low e s from the n
, a n d f e v er .” It d e r iv
d u s (d y s ) and entero
pain :
m a d e o f two words
which is
(intestine).

ld ie r s a n d civilians,
le, both so age can be
Many peop su r v iv e . F o r
o r te d t o f oraging to m e s tic animals”
res df o r d o
n o u n m e aning “ foo o o d or provisio
ns.”
a f o r f
of looking as “to mak
e
or “the act is d e f in e d
o c a n b e a verb that t rip o f food or
It als r “ t o s
id , o f te n f or food” o f u e rre, the Old
a ra s f ro m
p p li e s .” F o rage derive d d e r is “ food, such
su Fo
h w o rd fo r “ fodder.” a te d livestock,
Frenc om e s t ic
h a y o r feed, for d
as d r y
, s h e e p , a nd horses.”
tle
such as cat
42
 A nurse is “a pe
rson who is train
to take care of th ed
e sick or disable
Another word w d.”
ith similar roots
nursery. A nurs is
ery is “a room o
set aside to take r area
care of children
It also can mean .”
“a place in whic
something is fost h
ered or develop
(as in children o ed ”
r plants). Both n Spy tra
and nursery deri urse ces its
ve from the Old word e roo
French word no
rrice. That word spier, m ts from the O
eaning l
means nursema be “a p
erson e “to wat d French
id. A nursemaid secret mploye ch.” A s
woman hired to is “a inform d by a s py can
suckle children “seeks at io t a te to ga
are not her own
.”
who or obse n.” Someone th er
is t h e r r v es som w h o s p ie s
oot wo ething
e s p io n rd for s secretly
everal E .”
means
age, es
py, and nglish w Espier
“the ac espial. ords:
acquire t o r pract E s p i onage
secret ice of s
catch s inform pying t
ight of ation.” o
partiall someth Espy m
y obscu ing, oft eans “t
re e n h o
watchin d.” Esp idden o
g or o b ial mea r
serving n s “ th e
; a disc act of
overy.”

o n w h o o ff e rs his or her
pe rs
A volunteer is “a ry m e a n s “supported by
Vo lu n ta
services freely.” d o n a tio ns and actions
p riva te
contributions or e n t.” B o th th ese words
govern m
rather than by a rd s v o lu n ta rius and vol-
Lati n w o
derive from the
nta s. Volu nta s means “choice.”
u
43
f eze
e
fram

T
his unidentified African American nurse worked at
Chesapeake Hospital, in Hampton, Virginia. There is
no name attached to the image. But she was a Black
woman working in the slave state of Virginia when she was pho-
tographed. At a time when women were considered secondary
citizens and Black Americans were fighting for freedom from slav-
ery, the fact that she was professionally photographed would seem
to indicate that her story would be worth knowing.

44
 R Windy Day on the
T E R S
LE T Santa Fe Trail

The Little
Drummer Boy
War, one
Did you know that in the American Civil e was
His nam
Union soldier was only 10 years old?
Johnny Clem. 1851, in
John Joseph Clem was born on August 13,
ally join ed the
Newark, Ohio. When he was 10, he illeg the
into
Union army. A year later, he was accepted
to leave.
army because they could not persuade him ber of
num
By then, he had already participated in a
battles.
the Union
During the Battle of Chickamauga, when
nel told
army star ted retreating, a Confederate colo
of obe ying , Clem shot and
Clem to surrender. Instead
killed the colonel. tons of
Life as a soldier was hard. They would do Ella Jane Parker, age 11
nast y hard tack (a type
drills and have meals of super re
Dallas, Texas
and salt) . The
of biscuit made from flour, water, ing
ut, too . Play
were always diseases to worry abo
only fun
instruments and games were some of the
things to do.
ugh the
Clem served after the war and rose thro
was the last
ranks to become a brigadier general. He
He died on
Civil War veteran to retire from service.
May 13, 1937.
Mara Host, age 10
Columbus, Ohio

Klondike Gold Rush

Famous U.S. Islands
Mathew Brady and Photography

Draw a picture or write a poem or short essay that connects to

one of the above COBBLESTONE themes on which we currently
are working. All contributions must be your original work.
Include a note from a parent or a legal guardian clearly stat-
ing: “This is my child’s original work, and COBBLESTONE
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45
 lIght
Spot

on. . .
r
eze
en b
E
by

Their Story
hat role have women played
in shaping history? The
New-York Historical
Society’s Center for Women’s
History offers a way to dive
into that question. It has
collected primary sources,
essays, and images across
most of its planned 10
units for Women & the
American Story. One of
those units is “A Nation
Divided, 1832–1877.” It
explores the different
ways that women played
a part in the years before,
during, and immediately
after the Civil War. It also
emphasizes the experi-
ences of women from a
variety of backgrounds,
classes, and geographic areas
during those decades. The site
offers a wealth of information,
from general introductions to units
with links to resources and images for
further exploration. For readers curious to
learn more about the role of women during the Civil
War, check out wams.nyhistory.org/a-nation-divided.

46
 . D’sy
er
Myst
Hero A Friendly Letter
erg
nb
Dne
e
s
Denni
by

D id a simple letter from

an 11-year-old girl
change history? Some
historians suggest it may have
helped to save Abraham
and they would
tease their
husbands to
vote for you.”
Remember, on nlyy
Lincoln’s life. men could vo e
Famous photos of in elections at att
Lincoln show a man with time. Wome ’s riig t to o
a beard. In fact, he was vote was 60 years in the future.
the first U.S. president Lincoln took our hero’s advice and grew
to grow a full beard. The a beard. After winning the election, he
beard was a result of went on a victory tour of the Northern
advice he received in a states. When he arrived in upstate New
letter from this month’s York, he asked to meet this month’s hero.
mystery hero. She lived Today, a statue in the town depicts a tall,
in Westfield, New York. bearded Lincoln personally thanking the
The election of 1860 little girl.
was important because But how did the beard save Lincoln’s
the country was so life? Well, a plot was hatched to try to kill
divided over the issue Lincoln in Baltimore, Maryland, as he trav-
of slavery. Abraham eled to his inauguration. Few people knew
Lincoln was one of four of his beard, so by wearing a different
major candidates run- hat and “hunching over” to look shorter,
ning for the office of he was not recognized. And he made it
U.S president. safely to Washington, D.C.
Our young hero’s Imagine how history might have
father supported been different without our 11-year-
Lincoln, so our hero old hero’s letter! Can you guess her
knew a bit about name? Answer on page 49.
him. And one thing
that concerned her
was his appearance.
She wrote Lincoln
rg—
a letter telling him that he
n n i s D e ne n be
r. De an
should grow a beard. She wrote o k n o wn as D s. For more th aking
ls e
a
“Dr. D”— ry and real he
ro a n d sp e s 4 u s
that it would help him win te aching, oe
loves h is to
e n writ in g ,
it w ww.her
because “he would look a great s, he’s b e a . V is and
20 year ov e r Americ w in n in g book
ll award -
deal better [because his] face is eroes a
about h r n a ll a bout his .
so thin. All the ladies like whiskers lea a rd s
.com to ir tue trading c
-V
his Hero
 and writing From home or sc
An online reading of all ages and le
hool, kids
s 1:1
program that build learn Mandarin
vels can
lationships and explore
eMentor/mentee re
Chinese culture.
in the classroom.

HAPPY
NE W Y E A R!
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for all ages and interests!

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i s
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 STn y ,
FoR
Fu H e
K i d s !
We’re looking for a funny caption for this photo. Send your
idea, name, and address to: Just for Fun, COBBLESTONE,
1 East Erie Street, Suite 525, PMB4136, Chicago, IL 60611, or
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“This is my child’s original work, and COBBLESTONE has
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we’ll mail you a copy of the issue in which it appears.

You’
re
g pa t r s a y i n g
d oin iotic t
am
I enouhis isn’
Why this? n, age 9a Wa Toryn
gh?! t
o
h n s li fo r n i lp o Ci
le , M an
n Jo a a s s a ci , a g e
Tori eda, C ch u 1
Al a
m se t t 1
s

September Winners!
s
M ut t ’ a
e to e r i c
co m s ‘M e!
Wel rvelou uerad r, age 15as
Ma Masq Fletchae no, Tex e, a nd
i c
Joe Pl
y, j u st l d o g s ! 2 Answers to All About Women in the Civil War
rt al
Libe es for ardono, laifgornia
e1 Crossword Puzzle from page 36:

b o n a d P r i h b li n , C a
1 2
S T O W E
Ah m Du
I
L
3 4
P I E R C E L
5
H D I X
6
Answer to Dr. D’s Mystery Hero from page 47: Grace Bedell E C A
S U M
Picture Credits: Cover, 2-3, 4, ii (all), 1 (BR), 5, 6 (both), 7 (T), 8, 9, 10 (all), 11, 12 (both), 13 (both), 14, 16, 17 (both), 18, 19 (both), 7
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9
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49
1st Printing Quad Sussex, Wisconsin December 2021
 ture
at ure
Fe
January 2022
A Badger Buddy
them. Pets or mascots allowed the troops
focus on something other than the harsh-
ness of war. They allowed men to be reminded th
life did not have to revolve around killing. Men
often rallied around their mascots. And animal m
cots came in a variety of types. Dogs were the m
Volume 43 Number 1 cricketmedia.com $6.95
, and chickens also were common.
One regiment adopted a donkey. Another regiment
chose a camel. Yet another group of men kept a
pet sheep. Wisconsin’s soldiers chose an interesting
variety of mascots. In addition to bears and chick-
ens, the state’s units adopted a bald eagle, a cougar,
a raccoon, and a badger!